The DICT Development Group

  Record \Rec"ord\ (r[e^]k"[~e]rd), n. [OF. recort, record,
     remembrance, attestation, record. See Record, v. t.]
     1. A writing by which some act or event, or a number of acts
        or events, is recorded; a register; as, a record of the
        acts of the Hebrew kings; a record of the variations of
        temperature during a certain time; a family record.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Especially:
        (a) An official contemporaneous writing by which the acts
            of some public body, or public officer, are recorded;
            as, a record of city ordinances; the records of the
            receiver of taxes.
        (b) An authentic official copy of a document which has
            been entered in a book, or deposited in the keeping of
            some officer designated by law.
        (c) An official contemporaneous memorandum stating the
            proceedings of a court of justice; a judicial record.
        (d) The various legal papers used in a case, together with
            memoranda of the proceedings of the court; as, it is
            not permissible to allege facts not in the record.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Testimony; witness; attestation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              John bare record, saying.             --John i. 32.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. That which serves to perpetuate a knowledge of acts or
        events; a monument; a memorial.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. That which has been, or might be, recorded; the known
        facts in the course, progress, or duration of anything, as
        in the life of a public man; as, a politician with a good
        or a bad record.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. That which has been publicly achieved in any kind of
        competitive sport as recorded in some authoritative
        manner, as the time made by a winning horse in a race.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Court of record (pron. r?*k?rd" in Eng.), a court whose
        acts and judicial proceedings are written on parchment or
        in books for a perpetual memorial.
  
     Debt of record, a debt which appears to be due by the
        evidence of a court of record, as upon a judgment or a
        cognizance.
  
     Trial by record, a trial which is had when a matter of
        record is pleaded, and the opposite party pleads that
        there is no such record. In this case the trial is by
        inspection of the record itself, no other evidence being
        admissible. --Blackstone.
  
     To beat the record, or To break the record (Sporting), to
        surpass any performance of like kind as authoritatively
        recorded; as, to break the record in a walking match.
  
     Note: Records in many fields of endeavor are listed in the [a
           href="http:]/www.guinessworldrecords.com">Guiness Book
           of World Records.
           [1913 Webster]